MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Byrnes

THEY ARE THE INDIANS!

I hate the name Guardians, and as a Lakota one generation off the “REZ”, if it doesn’t bother me then it shouldn’t bother you. In the battle of division leaders, the Athletics bats were betrayed by questionable pitcher choices and even worse pitching in the first two games.

(Guardians 8-5)
In Friday’s opener Athletics starter JT Ginn had trouble all outing, loading the bases in the first with no-outs. He found his control for two strikeouts and held them scoreless but repeated the foot traffic again in the second inning.

Designated Hitter Brent Rooker (3) hit a two-run homer with Langeliers on, to give the A’s a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter hit a two-run double to tie the game 2-2 in the second but the A’s responded with two of their own in the fourth. Darryl Hernaiz and Tyler Soderstrom started the inning with back-to-back walks, and after a sac-bunt from Colby Thomas, Zack Gelof hit a two-run single to go back up 4-2.

Ginn (0-1, 4.30) had a 1-2-3 third and fourth innings but walked the bases loaded in the fifth and served up a two-run double to Sacramento State Alumnus Rhys Hoskins. A sac-fly later gave Cleveland the lead, and Ginn’s day was over. (4.1 inn. 5 hits, 5 earned runs).

In the seventh A’s relievers gave up a solo shot to Hoskins and back-to-back doubles to Naylor and Brayan Roccio for an 8-4 lead.

The A’s managed a last run when Jacob Wilson singled and Langeliers and Nick Kurtz walked to load the bases. Rooker’s RBI-single was it for the Athletics in the 8-5 loss. Thankfully the walk streak for Kurtz ended at 20-consecutive games and focus can return to him not hitting very well early-on in the season.

(Guardians: 14-6)
Saturday began the same as the opener, with a two-run homer in the first inning for the Athletics, this time by Langeliers (9). After a first-pitch single by Kurtz, Langeliers hit the first of his two homers on the day.

Backup catcher Austin Hedges’s solo shot in the third inning, traded runs with a McNeil RBI single in the fourth while Langeliers (10) second bomb of the day extended the lead to 4-1 Athletics.

From here, it was a revolving door of RBI-hits by the Guardians, too many, and too tedious to list here. Cleveland scored four in the fifth, one in the sixth, three runs each in the seventh and eighth innings and two in the ninth. A’s pitching gave up 14 hits and six walks with starter Jacob Lopez (2-2, 6.60) giving up six of those runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Recently promoted Luis Morales lasted one day before demotion when he led the reliever corps with five earned in just two innings. As a group the relievers allowed eight earned runs in the 14-6 drubbing.

The A’s only managed a McNeil sac-fly RBI in the sixth and a Kurtz RBI-single in the eighth inning while leaving eight runners stranded. They had 31 base runners (23 hits, 8 walks), yet they stranded eighteen and were 4-for-20 w/RISP in the two losses.

(Athletics: 7-1)
The A’s turned it around in the finale when starter Aaron Civale gave them a much-needed quality start. Civale (3-1, 2.95) won, scattering seven hits over six innings, and allowing only a solo home run to the Guardians’ DeLauter, who had a monster series. DeLauter was 8-for-11 (.727), 3 runs, two doubles, home run, three walks, and three RBI over the weekend and raised his average 53 points (.304).

The A’s enjoyed home runs by Thomas (1), Gelof (2), and Soderstrom (4) for a nice power burst versus a solid pitcher in Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick. Rooker had an RBI-single in the fifth, following back-to-back singles by Hernaiz and McNeil.

The A’s scored three more in the sixth when McNeil hit a bases-loaded double, clearing them for a 7-1 lead, and the eventual winning score.  He went 2-for-4 and Soderstrom had a three-hit game to lead the Athletics.

The A’s may have lost the series 2-1, but went 34/108 (.351), and have found their bats.

Next: @Phillies 5/5 3:40PST Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia